好彩一生肖表:8 souvenir snacks from Singapore to bring home

Published on 21 May 2019.

Take home edible souvenirs that will spark memories of your gastronomical adventure in Singapore with every bite. Besides making great gifts, these delectable mementos are ripe with authentic local flavour. Here are eight local snacks, beverages and sauces to stuff your suitcases with before you go home.

The Original Raffles Hotel Singapore Sling

Recount your time in the city with a local cocktail in hand. The Singapore Sling is a world-famous elixir of gin, cherry liqueur, triple sec, bitters, pineapple juice, cherry juice, lime juice and grenadine. It sounds like a complex tipple to shake up at home, but fear not—you can bring home bottles of the cocktail, pre-mixed for convenience. All you need to do is crack open a bottle, pour over ice, and pretend it was all your hard work when your friends ask about it.

Lim Chee Guan Bak Kwa

Albeit being available all year round, bak kwa (barbequed meat slices) shops across the island see especially long queues during Chinese New Year, when it’s a tradition to snack on the delicacy. Take home a slice of our culture at one of Lim Chee Guan’s three outlets around town. Packaging comes in a sealed zip-lock bag, so none of that goodness will be lost on your journey home.

Batu Lesung Spice Company

Spice enhances many dishes, so level up your home cooking skills with pre-mixed pastes and blends from Batu Lesung Spice Company. The brand distils all the piquant goodness of local dishes such as rendang (braised meat cooked in coconut milk and spices) and chicken curry into easy-to-use tubs. Simply follow the accompanying recipes, and serve up an authentic Singaporean feast in record time. If you’re an aspiring chef, you can also use the pastes in your own recipes to create your own fusion flavours.

Sing Long Sambal Belacan

Forget Sriracha and Tabasco—what spice fiends really need is a jar of sambal belacan, a dried shrimp chilli paste that the locals embellish their dishes with. The traditional recipe, practised by many Singaporean grandmothers, involves a whole afternoon of pounding, blending and cooking by hand. With Sing Long Sambal Belacan, all that’s needed is a twist of the cap to take any Asian dish to the next level.

Available in supermarkets islandwide.

IRVINS Salted Egg Fish Skin

A snack with a uniquely Asian twist, IRVINS Salted Egg Fish Skins might be the best crackers you’ll ever eat. The fish skin is deep fried, then coated in an umami-rich powder processed from salted egg yolk. The result: a crispy, addictive snack that you’ll be popping in your mouth no matter what your doctor says. Do your friends and family a favour and grab a couple of these bags home.

Ya Kun Kaya

Shelve those marmalade and jam jars the next time you have breakfast, because kaya (traditional jam made from coconut and eggs) toast is the best way to start the day in Singapore. Kaya toast is a morning staple prepared by slathering gobs of kaya and butter between crispy slices of bread. Get a jar and make your own, from Ya Kun Kaya Toast, a breakfast joint beloved for their buttery kaya. You can pick a bottle up from one of their many outlets in the city, and have a few slices of toast while you’re there, too.

ETTE TEA COMPANY Tea Blend Collection

Enjoy all the flavours of local food, minus the calories, with ETTE TEA COMPANY’s savoury teas. It may sound strange, but the local tea brand has dedicated a few flavours to our hawker staples—think chicken rice and nasi lemak(rice cooked in coconut milk, served with an array of side dishes). Since you can’t bring those dishes back, introduce your loved ones to Singaporean delicacies in the form of tea bags instead.

The Cookie Museum Singapore Heritage Flavours

If a hot cup of tea isn’t to your liking, try cookies infused with the flavours of chilli crab, satay (grilled meat skewers) or durian, a tropical fruit widely enjoyed by locals. The Cookie Museum’s sweet-and-savoury biscuits are proof of our culinary prowess, and how we’ve managed to take tradition and make it new. Emblazoned with Chinese and Peranakan* motifs, the tins are reminders of our roots.

*The term is an Indonesian/Malay word that means “local born”, which generally refers to people of Chinese and Malay/Indonesian heritage.